Social Sciences Books

Manfred B. Steger's book Globalization is part of the Very Short Introductions series put out by Oxford University Press. The series is called that because each book in the series is a brief treatment of a particular topic, like Cosmology, Postmodernism, Intelligence, Drugs, or Animal Rights. In Globalization, Steger keeps his introduction to 147 pages, making it true to the series name.

Steger has written Globalization with both erudition and clarity. Striking that balance between precision and perspicuity is no easy task, but Steger manages to succeed. In chapter 1, Steger decides not to protect the reader from the controversies surrounding the concept of globalization. He then takes his readers on a historical tour, showing how globalization has been happening in different ways ever since humans appeared on the scene (ch. 2). The meat of the book comes in chapters 3-5, where Steger expounds on the economic, political, and cultural dimensions of globalization. In chapter 6 Steger makes a careful distinction between globalization and globalism. The former, he explains, is a description of social processes, while the latter is an ideology endowed with neoliberal meanings and values. Earlier in the book Steger gave his readers another helpful distinction, separating globalization as social processes from globality as a social condition (p. 7). Chapter 7 highlights the recent key challenges to globalism in the form of particularist-protectionism and universalist-protectionism. Chapter 8, capping off the introduction, contains a brief assessment of the future of globalization.

Although I had read about globalization before, and most of the concepts discussed inside are not new to me, Steger's volume on globalization has turned out to be the best introduction to the topic that I've come across

Book was informative, this is a text book. The last two sections give seemingly unsupported statements, but tries to be balanced.

The point of a "very short introduction" is to present a topic with a minimum of bias; then, if the reader wishes to delve deeper, s/he can do so.

This book is unfortunately quite biased against globalization, the economic aspects of which are leading millions out of poverty (see India, China). Steger takes a typical Socialist view and runs with it.

His multifaceted approach is quite commendable, however. His identification of the political, social, cultural, etc. aspects of globalization are too often ignored, although, again, I think he overstates the negatives.

What I find most unfortunate is that the browsing book buyer might see this book and be inspired to learn something about an important topic. S/he will come away with a sadly jaundiced view of a process that has very much to commend. Steger the political scientist seems put off that economists get most of the globalization press (he sees politics as the driver behind everything, which is a suspect position IMO), and his use of "neoliberal" is seldom used in any positive sense even though classical liberalism has given Steger the very freedom to trash the "Global North" which he criticizes. It's too bad, really. The topic deserves better.

The book starts, ominously, with the author "deconstructing" (sic, comas and all) Bin Laden. It turns out the 9/11 attacks were all America's fault, for trying to force fed globalization into an unwanting world. The rest of the book continues in the same vein, with the author lambasting multinationals, neoliberals, the North, and above all evil Americans for all the worlds troubles. A mugshot of Bill Gates is included.

Steger has no grasp of economics whatsoever, so all his economic assumptions about the effects of globalization are totally wrong. The classical example is trying to demonstrate the widening gap between rich and poor countries without taking account of countries population size or PPP. With China growing at a rate of 10% this looks specially silly.

I strongly recommend Why Globalization Works (Yale Nota Bene) instead of this drivel.

Steger begins by defining the term "globalization": A "set of processes" (not a "condition") towards greater interdependence and integration among the various cultures of the world. He makes a point to emphasize that economics is only ONE aspect of globalization: there are also political, cultural and ideological aspects. Moreover, he dedicates one chapter to showing that globalization is by no means a NEW phenomenon: cultural exchanges can be traced back to the prehistoric period.

I found the chapter on the economic aspects of globalization (chapter 3) very useful. It explains the history and role of the IMF, WTO and the World Bank in the global economy. It also discusses the West's transition from "controlled economies" to "free market capitalism." Arguing that globalization is an uneven process, the author shows how it is having very different effects on the various regions of the world. This gives us a clear vision of some of the negative impacts of the new world economy, such as a larger gap between rich and poor nations. His realistic view of globalization is a nice antidote to the cheerleading of hyperglobalizers like Thomas Friedman.

The chapter on opposition to globalization (chapter 7) does an excellent job of explaining challenges that are coming from both the right and the left. The particularist protectionists (on the right) feel threatened by multiculturalism because they want to maintain a sort of cultural purity. This often leads to their rallying against immigration and appealing to nationalism. However, like the left, they also criticize the power of the corporate elite and the negative effects globalization is having on the average domestic worker (i.e., jobs going overseas, lower wages). In the US, Pat Buchanan is a good example of this view. The universalist protectionists (on the left) tend to criticize the poor working conditions of both domestic and foreign workers. In general, universalist protectionists "are concerned with protection of the environment, fair trade and international labor issues, human rights, and women's issues." Ralph Nader is an example of a universalist protectionst.

Overall, an excellent introduction to the various facets of one of the most important issues of our time.

This was a good price, much less than my campus bookstore.

this cuaderno is really lame. some of the activities are useful. most of them are very 2nd gradish--they don't make you think at all about what needs to be written, all exercises follow the same formula, you jsut substitute a different vocab word/verb. the listening comprehension (done in a language lab) is good b/c it helps you train your ear, but even some of those exercises are silly.

My daughter needed this book for a college class. We were very impressed when it came because it looked like it had never been opened or used. It was a great deal for us.

Book was beneficial for class. Emphasizes on different issues within the schools system.

This is a great book about current education policy that everyone should read.

Current educational significant issues for 2007 are listed within this book including such issues as social experience, standardizing curriculum, producing good citizens, charter schools, bilingual education, school violence, homework, and merit pay. Two major sides are looked at for each issue listed, and one of the issues, redefining of "public school" in question, lists 4 people on the "no" side of the issue and 1 person on the "yes" side. The table of contents does not show that there are 4 different excerpts, but lists it as only "et. al" for three people when it really should be written out for clarity and easier reference.

The bonus issues, changing science curriculum on evolution (known as Intelligent Design (ID) ) and boys' education are extra issues they decided to tack on. They really don't fit into any of the categories from the issues originally listed, and are much more theoretical and directly less significant than the issues originally in the text. The bonus issues are not a necessary read unless you intend on reading everything or something on those particular topics, but it's nice addition for the book.

Considering that this is a 14th edition, there are still way to many places where they forgot to place a space between words and I think a couple of misspellings too.

Besides all the tidbits, the issues are worth reading and understanding, as they capture many nuances that you may or may not have thought of. Even if the points are already obvious to you, it's very arguably a handy well written reference if nothing more than that.

Book has lots of information. Shows different conclusions when results of studies are dissimilar. Lots of references. Used as text for a class. Well organized.

I am only a few chapters into this book so far, but it seems to be a good read. I have already learned several new things about aging and look forward to my continued reading. My only complaint so far is that while interesting, I think that there are too many statistics. This kind of takes away the importance of some of the more pertinent facts and would be far too many to memorize.

This book is simple to read and it covers all topics related with aging and geriatrics. I think this is a good source, but last semester I used one by John Cavanaugh and I considered that one a level higher than thisone. I mean this is a general topic book. I bouth it for my Social Work with the Elderly college class, and I don't really consider it too deep in the topic of social Work, but more a generalized information book.

Text is laid out very well, easy to read. There is a lot of good information in this book related to aging--physical, emotional, cognitive and social factors. The chapters are organized by topic with a lot of graphs and research info. to back it up. The only negative I have is that there is a lot of research data in the text which can get make reading all of it a little boring.

This woman cannot write. The story drags. Bella is so selfish and immature and the whole story follows her shallow thoughts and feelings. Ugh!

Soy una adulta mayor y adoro las historias que me hagan soñar. Mi hija me regalo el primer volumen en ingles y es fantastica; pero la traduccion al español es muy pobre. Al parecer la persona encargada de ella, no encontro realmente el alma de la novela, duele ver que aquellos lectores de lengua hispana que no puedan leer en ingles,pierdan un 50% de lo esperado.

I own this book in English and Spanish - This is my favorite book after the bible. The story is amazing!

This is one of the most entertaining books I have ever read. At some point you actually forget you are reading and begin to see the movie in your head! (No wonder it is being released in Dec 2008)
An impossible love story, a humble quest and a magnificent adventure make this book a most have in your collection, even if you cannot bring yourself to read any other book, there is NO WAY you won't enjoy the wonder if this story...

TwilightGeek

Las historias con personajes fantasticos que luchan contra sus lados mas oscuros son siempre muy entretenidas,agregenle una historia de amor, dosis de humor y ademas de intriga y suspenso, esto ultimo son una serie de interrogantes que han venido surgiendo de la saga completa; Crepusculo, Luna nueva y Eclipse. deberian de ser respondidas o aclaradas en el ultimo libro Breaking Dawn que muy pronto vera la luz. Estas interrogantes se han visto ofuscadas tal vez por la misma historia de amor, pero es en ellas, en donde veremos un desenlace inesperado, las que he podido captar son: La singularidad de Bella, inmune a los poderes extrasensoriales de algunos vampiros, el por que de esto puede ser muy importante en este libro, ya hemos visto vampiros, hombres lobos, sera que veremos algun otro ser de fabula, tengo idea que Bella es una mestiza de Hada, su madre tan despistada y aerea me da la sospecha que se las trae, otra cosa que dudo es en la transformacion de Bella en vampiro, mas bien creo que ella sera la redencion de Edward, el menciona que si se pudiera transformar en humano lo haria a cualquier costo, el hecho de que la sangre de Bella tuviera semejante tentacion para el me parece parte de ese proceso, despues de todo las tentaciones son parte de todo proceso depurativo y evolutivo. De Jacob solo espero que logre superar su amor por Bella, seria ironico una imprimacion con Leah, Seth sera el eslabon de un proceso de acercamiento entre ambos bandos y veremos tambien al clan del norte en conflictos con los lobos, en fin, que predicciones aparte, la saga es interesante y la lectura muy amena, ampliamente recomendada para todas las edades.

Transaction went smoothly and got the item quicky in the condition promised. Would purchase again.

after i ordered this book, the distributors let me know instantly that they no longer had the book on shelf, and instantly refunded my account. speedy service is one thing, but keeping the customer informed is another...thanks

I found it tedious to read in spite of the high literary reputation and ability of Virginia Woolf. There must be something lacking in me.

Edward Cook

Virginia Woolf in her best form - personal but not self-centred, concentrated and ready to fight for what she believes is right. This long essay gives her views on the position of women in literature but offers also an overview of their role through centuries - from the imaginary Shakespeare's sister to her contemporaries. A must read for all readers regardless of sex!

A timeless essay not only for women. Good hard binding that will keep. It's a must have if you like English literature.

The book has good general information about the affects of different drugs on the brain and body, and attempts to address some of the social controversies surrounding various drugs. I wish it had more information on the history of drug legislation in the US and the sociocultural context of those decisions.

I use this text in my undergraduate course 'Drugs and HumanBehavior' at USC. The students like it. The pictures are great. Everything's explained in clear language. The references are up to date, chapters are well organized, and the reviews are comprehensive.

The scope of Snyder's book is ambitious. It offers a grand sweep of teaching the basics of information technology. To a reader that will not major in this field. In other words, if this is a required text for one of your courses, then it may well be the last text in IT that some of you will ever use. Realistically, you will probably in later years have computer books, about whatever new hardware or software comes up. But those will usually be books far narrower in scope.

So there is a big responsibility here. Luckily, Snyder carries it off well. This is not a book about how to turn on your PC or Mac, or how to navigate in a windowing system. He reasonably assumes that you've already learnt this by now. This frees him to discuss higher level topics. Like just what is the World Wide Web? What are the implications of a pervasive global network of computers? Whose reach is expanding daily. Naturally, pretty early in the text, we meet the Web. An entire chapter is devoted to HTML, due to its universal importance. This chapter is fairly low level detail. Most of you won't write HTML.

Later on are perhaps broader topics. Like how to find information on the Web. This is more than just blithely typing a query into Google. He warns that there is far more to effective searching than that. You need to develop some feeling for which websites and other information sources are reliable.

If you thought HTML is low level, he goes deeper. In simple terms, he tries to explain the innards of a computer. To demystify what must surely be inexplicable to some. He also does this with algorithms.

Social issues are also extensively dealt with. The privacy you might have in an electronic world, and how this might come under attack through viruses and other malware. Or even by phishing. It is a good sign of the updated nature of this text that he gives an explanation of this recent scourge. And how you might avoid it. Though the suggestions he offers are all manual, and not programmatic. Which still exposes the unwary to phishing. But in this year 2005, that is indeed the state of the art in antiphishing.

I'm just now finishing up a semester teaching a CS0 class from this text. In a nutshell, I am teaching the same course next term, and I will not use this book again. Let me add a few useful things for the reader before I explain why.

First, there are essentially two classes of texts out there for CS0 classes: (1) surveys of computer science qua science and (2) surveys of the information technology field. Snyder's book most definitely falls in the second category, although there are several chapters devoted to JavaScript.

Second, if you're going to use this text, make sure you get the online resources, especially the prepared labs and the 6-page PDF reference for JavaScript. The labs are detailed, deep and very useful, and the reference is well-organized and easy to use.

In fact, I did not have a chance to review this text before I adopted it for my course, and it was the labs (along with a solid-looking table of contents, credentials from the National Research Council, and a single 5-star review here) that convinced me to use it. I do hope this review will discourage others from doing the same.

My problem with this text is, in a word, depth. Or rather the breathtaking lack thereof. It is organized coherently enough, but time and time again throughout this term, I found the treatment of various topics in the book so shallow that I had to spend almost double time filling in enough details to make things coherent to my students.

The result was an absolutely enormous amount of work on my part, finding supplementary readings, putting extra care into lectures, writing extensive tutorial materials for the assignments, and so on. At every step of the way, I felt that I was fighting the text, rather than drawing from it.

Some of the worst habits in the book's writing include:

*_Long_, drawn-out analogies for ideas that are never given any other explanation, so that the "analogies" are completely devoid of context, and hence pointless. Invariably, such things serve only to muddy already-murky waters.

*Gross over-simplification of many concepts, so much so that it is nearly impossible for a student to develop any sense of the real-world ideas that made a technology worth adapting. Perhaps the most egregious example of this is in the chapter on encryption, which in its presentation of RSA pretends that only one public key (3, 55) is ever generated, and but then proceeds to give a "formula" for computing the private key, before devolving into the spectacular silliness of a quotation of Euler's Theorem that by this point might as well be in the original german for all the good it would do a student.

*Absolutely _awful_ problem sets. The few "exercises" that aren't just fill-in-the-blank and multiple-choice review consist of short-answer problems that alternated between the trivial and the pointless, or combinations of the two. The "test banks" are no better. With almost no exceptions, they were questions I would consider insulting to a six-grader, let alone a classroom of college students.

The really strange thing about this is that the website for Snyder's own version of the course looks quite well organized and rigorous. In fact, the look of his class from that site was one of the reasons I selected this text. Some of this is the use of those lab assignments I mentioned above, which are quite nice. And Snyder's work with the NRC clearly indicates a fair amount of thought went into the design of this work.

The only explanation I can offer for the disconnect is that he has simply been unsuccessful in putting into writing some of the apparent magic of the course from which this text arose.

But the book does not pull it off, all my self-consciousness about armchair-quarterbacking aside. Good work with NRC report, but the book from that effort is still to be written.